When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

I saw this topic many months ago, but I can't seem to find it anymore. I feel like this may be a common question among new people to the fragrance world. When exactly do you own a fragrance if you don't have the physical bottle? For example, I have 24mL of both Chypre Palatin and Invasion Barbare from that sample suite they offer. Do I add them to my "owned" list? I feel like it's almost like cheating since I don't own the actual bottle, but I did pay for the fragrance.

In the same theme, I generally don't consider samples a fragrance I own, just one I am testing. I feel like 10mL is a decent size, but I don't really know if that is owning something or just having a large enough sample :P.

What do you guys do? I know it's a silly question since it doesn't really matter, but when I talk about my collection to people I know online and where I live, I don't know what to say about stuff like that.

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

My requirement is anything over 10ml will be included in my "owned" list. It's a big enough sample to wear it many times. I'm an impulse buyer, and this way, I can see over the course of maybe a month or two, how many times I've actually worn it and whether or not, I'm actually justified in buying a full bottle by using the wardrobe feature on BN.

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

I think this a little crazy that people would judge what they consider "something added to the collection"...

If you have it to spray, you own it. I don't think other people's opinions matter.

Whether you "own" a 5mL sample decant for testing, or a 30mL split because it's something you don't use frequently, or you have the 125mL bottle because you use it 5 times a week.... you own whatever it is on your terms.

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

entirely subjective I suppose. I feel I "own" it as long as will "use" it and have enough still left to use. The exact amount is irrelevant to me, as I have some 5-10 ml decants that will probably last me a couple of years at least, yet I have some large bottles that will last me the same amount of time or less. Plus, what if a "bottle" you own is down to 5-10 ml or less...would you suddenly classify that you no longer own it because of the amount?

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

I have a 5ml official boxed bottle of Lutens Feminite du Bois (a very generous gift from a fellow Basenoter) which I felt was worthy of adding to my 'owned' list. It's a legitimate (albeit tiny) bottle, not a spray vial, and I don't think they give such things away for free so as far as I'm concerned, I own Feminite du Bois.

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

Thanks for everyone's input. I'll place IB and Chypre into my "owned" list since I have as much of them as I do DHI or TV as decants, and technically they did come in "bottles" from the company. It still feels a little wrong since those bottles usually cost so much, and when I do eventually buy a bottle of IB I'll feel odd already having it there. However, I'll leave out 10mL samples for now though.

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

There are plenty of houses who do fully packaged 15 and 20ml bottles, especially in EDP concentration and higher... Banana Republic, Gaultier etc. Would you not even count those? Purely out of interest.

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

Originally Posted by voodoodanny

There are plenty of houses who do fully packaged 15 and 20ml bottles, especially in EDP concentration and higher... Banana Republic, Gaultier etc. Would you not even count those? Purely out of interest.

I'd say I would since they are coming from the house themselves. I was mainly questioning samples and decants since, as a new person to the fragrance world, I buy a lot of them. The reason I was hesitant with MDCI is due to the price. Sure I paid $120 for 5 samples, but it's nothing compared to the $260 for the non-bust bottle of IB.

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

Big decants eg 20mls and above are the same as full bottles to me. I bought some 50ml decants from base notes marketplace recently, and they've gone into my wardrobe collection. I also have the 250 ml flacons for them (thanks Kron!) so you could argue that I have the bottles, albeit the juice is elsewhere!

1-5 mls are samples to me, I don't put samples into my wardrobe. 6-19 mls are a grey area!

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

Originally Posted by fit&frag'd

entirely subjective I suppose. I feel I "own" it as long as will "use" it and have enough still left to use. The exact amount is irrelevant to me, as I have some 5-10 ml decants that will probably last me a couple of years at least, yet I have some large bottles that will last me the same amount of time or less. Plus, what if a "bottle" you own is down to 5-10 ml or less...would you suddenly classify that you no longer own it because of the amount?

Good points.

It's not a big deal to me. Why would it matter greatly?? Like many here have said, there is no magic number of ml or cut-off point where it would be clear that you could say you "own" a perfume. In that case the "collection" tab should be called "full, original bottle"...and then we would still be left with the issue of whether an original bottle with 5 ml juice in it would still fit in this category.

Some of you think that only a purchased, original bottle (presumably full) counts - why? I am curious

I guess we all use the wardrobe function according to our own logic...here's mine:
Collection: I own and use on a regular basis (hence there are full bottles I don't list because I don't use them).
Samples: Samples I have purchased or been given - in other words samples I own. Most of these are 2ml spray samples but in some cases I have up to 12 ml. The reason I list these as samples is because I have acquired them with the express purpose of sampling the perfumes in question. If I were to buy a small decant of a fragrance because I wanted to own it but didn't want a full bottle, I wouldn't see why it shouldn't go into my collection.
Owned: Don't use this but if I would I would list perfumes I used to own but no longer own. Do people use this for fragrances they currently own (confused)??
Tried: Perfumes I have tried on skin with the express purpose of trying them. I have tried many more than listed, but if I haven't given the scent much thought/don't remember it after trying it I won't put it in this category even if I've sniffed it.
Test List: Perfumes I would like to test.
Wish List: Would use this if I knew there were certain perfumes I wanted to buy but had for some reason not yet bought. Don't see myself using this as I would probably just go ahead and buy whatever it was I wanted.
Swap List: Haven't used this as I am unsure as to whether it is ok for me to list things here even if I have not posted 500 posts yet. Would - obviously - list stuff I wanted to swap (those bottles mentioned above).

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

Originally Posted by OctaVariuM

How is that? You have the exact same scent as the actual fragrance. If anything it's like renting a Lambo.

I interpreted it as being AT the wheel... not as only having the wheel itself, but I see that would be more literal to the statement. Maybe like taking it for a test drive would be more fitting to what I was thinking.

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

I am so glad that this topic is posted as I have been wondering this myself as a new basenoter posting my wardrobe. Currently, I have only put the fragrances that I own in a FB as my "owned" fragrances because I was not sure. I do think that decants can also be owning a fragrance. I do not know where I would personally put that line though. I have some small decant samples (5ml) that I have had for literally 14 years!

Re: When exactly do you "own" a fragrance?

Revising my answer: Since, in my opinion, the bottle is an integral part of the experience; I only fully own the fragrances that I have in their original bottles- regardless whether I got them new or used.